Dom Dwyer is having a breakout season for Sporting Kansas City, shedding the hard-working but goal-shy performances that characterized his first two seasons in favor of hard-working and goal-filled outings this year. After scoring twice in his first 19 Major League Soccer appearances, Dwyer’s 14 goals in 17 games has the England-born striker second on the league’s scoring charts. Kansas City has another star.

That Dwyer is England-born has left him on the outside looking in at international soccer, something that could change going forward. According to the 23-year-old, playing for England is still the dream, but three years away from citizenship, he wouldn’t turn down a chance to play for the United States.

“If the offer ever came to me, I think it would be a difficult one to say no to,” he said. “I’m from England, born and raised there, but I’ve been in the US for quite a few years and have a lot of love for this country and enjoy being here.”

Get excited, right? A lot of fans already were, and with the league’s website fueling the fire, the connection between Dwyer and the U.S. national team will persist. As long as he’s scoring goals and remains uncapped, the dream will grow.

Much like Dwyer’s quotes, though, this story isn’t so straightforward. As the third-year pro notes later in the interview, 2017 is a long way off, and while it seems unlikely he’ll be called up by England any time soon, it’s not certain the former Norwich City trainee will still be in the United States at that time. If this year’s performance proves more than a hot streak, it will be difficult to prevent Dwyer from jumping back to his nation of birth to further his career.

We should also keep that “if” in mind. Dwyer has been one of Major League Soccer’s best players his season, his defensive tenacity combining with his attacking production to make him a Most Valuable Player candidate. But this run may still prove anomalous. When a guy jumps from two in 19 to nearly a goal-per-game, it’s fair to wonder if there’s some significant regression in his future.

With World Cup fever still in effect, and Dwyer hinting he could be one of MLS’s best forwards, fans’ interest in his international future seems natural enough. But there are a lot of questions about that future.

Let’s see if Dwyer’s still around in two years. By then, we’ll have a better idea if he can help the U.S., provided he becomes eligible to do so.

Assuming he gets both phone calls, he’ll play for England. He grew up dreaming about the Three Lions. Period. I’d imagine his hope of playing for England is much greater than his desire to get US citizenship to play for us.

The U.S. needs to be more concerned with producing their own players rather than using every tool available to make anyone with the loosest connections to the U.S. eligible for the USMNT. It’s been 20 years since we hosted the World Cup and that was supposed to be the impetus for growth. Enough already with the Germans and Icelanders and Norwegians and everyone else pulling on our jersey. We need more than an occasional Deandre Yedlin.

Do you want to win or do you want to be sent home early and often in major competitions, carried out on your shield of principle?

Diego Costa is from Brazil. Lukas Podolski and Miroslav Klose are Polish. Dual nationals are a reality of international soccer and, unless we want to fall another 20 years behind the rest of the world, we need to embrace pursuing the very best eligible players for the USMNT.

We are in no position to be so indignant. Could you imagine what would have happened to us in the Group of Death without Jermaine Jones and Fabian Johnson? Luck for us, we don’t have to.

What kind of tool thinks that the U.S. is the only country “poaching?” Specifically J. Klinsmann? This is not a new philosophy. World Cup coaches are like college football coaches in the sense that they are always recruiting talent eligible or soon to be eligible, to help build up the “program.” Pull. Your. Head. Out.

Big difference between a dual national who was born and grew up in the country they’re playing for but whose parents were born elsewhere and a mercenary like Costa and all the guys Klinnsman keeps recruiting and there’s a big difference between a National team having one such guy as opposed to more than a half dozen and continuing to turn over every stone to find more. That shit’s embarrassing already and if you have any friends from other countries or ever leave the country you know the rest of the soccer world laughs at it. Like I said, no one says anything about having one guy here and there but if it was up to some of you the whole squad would be full of these guys. GTFOH. Keep rooting for foreigners wearing American jerseys while you wave your cute little scarves if it makes you happy.

Why would you take the evidence of a marked improvement in a player’s game as evidence of “some significant regression in his future”? Every player regresses at some point as they age, but this guy is only 23! Dumb logic.